What's New

The following information provides highlights of some of the enhancements available
in this release of vCenter Server Heartbeat 6.3 Update 1.

Note: The features available depend on the version of vCenter
Server installed.

Features

Enhanced passive server management capabilities — A new deployment option allows the passive server to be managed and monitored remotely, this includes receiving file level antivirus updates. This option is only available for:

vCenter 4.0 and its updates, and 4.1 and its updates

Remote SQL Server 2005, 2008 only

Please refer to install documentation for detailed requirements and install procedure specifically around DNS and changes required to Active Directory during installation..

Support for View Composer — This release of VMware vCenter
Server Heartbeat now provides support for View Composer v2.5

Note: The term vSphere Client is applicable to both vSphere
Client and VI Client except where VI Client is specifically stated.

Learning about vCenter Server Heartbeat

VMware provides you with manuals that show you how to work with vCenter Server
Heartbeat. Additionally, you can view a video that introduces you to the product
and demonstrates a sample installation. To download and play the video:

Extract the files into a directory on your system and navigate to the vCSHB_QuickStart_VideoInstall
subdirectory.

Double-click the vCSHB_QuickStart_VideoInstall.html file to start the video.

Prior Releases of vCenter Server
Heartbeat

Features and known issues from prior releases of vCenter Server Heartbeat are
described in the release notes for each release. To view release notes for a prior
release of vCenter Server Heartbeat, click the appropriate link:

vCenter Server Heartbeat and
vCenter Server Compatibility

This release of vCenter Server Heartbeat operates on the following platforms:

Windows Server 2003 x86 Standard SP2

Windows Server 2003 x86 Enterprise SP1 and SP2

Windows Server 2003 x64 Standard/Enterprise SP2

Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Standard/Enterprise SP2

Windows Server 2008 x86 Standard/Enterprise SP1 and SP2

Windows Server 2008 x64 Standard/Enterprise SP1 and SP2

Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard/Enterprise

This release of vCenter Server Heartbeat only supports vCenter Converter Enterprise.
This version of vCenter Server Heartbeat does not support vCenter Converter 3.0.3
(Starter edition) or vCenter Converter Standalone 4.0.

Installation Notes for This Release

See the vCenter Server Heartbeat Guides before installing this software. You
must verify that your server environment meets the minimum requirements for the
network option (LAN or WAN) selected. These guides also address minimum hardware/software
requirements and scaling recommendations associated with this release. To view a
guide, click one of the following links:

Note: vCenter Server Heartbeat with non-identical nodes in a cluster can only be deployed in a LAN using the V2V or P2V architecture and the pre-clone installation technique on vCenter Server 4.0 Update 1 or later. Additionally, vCenter Server and SQL Server cannot be installed on the same server in a non-identical nodes environment.

This release of vCenter Server Heartbeat supports the following versions of SQL Server:

SQL Server 2005 SP1-SP3

SQL Server 2008 including SP2

Upgrading to vCenter Server
Heartbeat 6.3 Update 1

This release of vCenter Server Heartbeat 6.3 Update 1 supports upgrades only from previously supported versions. The vCenter Server Heartbeat 6.3 Update 1 Installer prompts you to perform an upgrade only when a previously supported version of vCenter Server Heartbeat is found. See the vCenter Server Heartbeat Installation Guide for installation requirements and VMware Knowledge Base article 1014435 (vCSHB-Ref-1815) for the upgrade procedures. When downgrading to a previous version of vCenter Server Heartbeat, do not use Setup to uninstall plug-ins. For information about performing plug-in installs/uninstalls please refer to VMware Knowledge Base article 1014435 (vCSHB-Ref-1815).

vCenter Server Heartbeat
Setup

Setup — User Access Control (UAC) must be disabled during installation.
VMware recommends that User Access Control (UAC) on Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 be disabled when installing the product on both servers. UAC can be re-enabled once installation of vCenter Server Heartbeat has completed.

Setup — When using the Install Clone technique in a Physical to Virtual (P2V) architecture, the Secondary server must not have VMware Tools installed during the installation process.
If VMware Tools is installed on the Secondary server when using the Install Clone technique in a P2V architecture, the packet filter will fail to install.Workaround: Uninstall VMware Tools completely prior to starting the Setup process. Once vCenter Server Heartbeat is installed, reinstall VMware Tool on the Secondary server.

Setup — During pre-install checks on Windows Server 2008, a Windows pop-up may appear stating "Server is busy: The action cannot be completed because the other program is busy".
VMware recommends that you do not press Switch but rather wait for the Next button in vCenter Server Heartbeat Setup to become enabled and then continue the installation process.

Setup — The recommended minimum display resolution for
Setup and vCenter Server Heartbeat Console is 1024 X 768.
Prior to starting Setup or launching the vCenter Server Heartbeat Console, set
the display to a minimum of 1024 X 768.

Setup — Installing vCenter Server Heartbeat using the local Administrator account rather than the Domain Administrator account.
If you intend to install vCenter Server Heartbeat using a local Administrator account rather than a Domain Administrator account, please see VMware Knowledge Base article
1022867 (vCSHB-Ref-1916).

Setup — vCenter Server Heartbeat does not support the ` (grave accent) character
vCenter Server Heartbeat does not support usernames and passwords that use the ` (grave accent) character. Change the vCenter Server password before configuring
vCenter Server Heartbeat rules.

Setup — If 10GB Mellanox network cards are present, TCP Offload Engine (TOE) must be disabled on all network cards before installation
If 10GB Mellanox network cards are present, TCP Offload Engine (TOE) must be disabled on all network cards before installing vCenter Server Heartbeat. See VMware Knowledge Base article 1024066 (vCSHB-Ref-1919) for more information about this environment.

Install Clone — Prior to starting Setup on the Secondary
server, the WebClient service must be set to Manual or Automatic
If VMware License Server is installed, before starting vCenter Server Heartbeat
Setup you must set the WebClient service to Manual or Automatic. Failing to
do so will result in an error preventing Setup from progressing.

Install Clone — During installation, the backup fails
with the error "no drives included in the backup" if command-line tools are
missing
During installation, when the backup is taken, it fails with the error "No drives
included in the backup" unless both the Windows Backup Features and Command-line
Tools are installed.Workaround: Install both the Windows
Backup Features and Command-line Tools and then attempt the backup again.

Install Clone — During installation on Windows Server
2008 SP2, the restore process may fail with the error "System writer is not
found in the backup"
During installation, when the restore process runs, it may fail with the error
"System writer is not found in the backup". This is caused by a problem with
permissions on the %windir%\winsxs\filemaps folder contents.Workaround:
See Microsoft Knowledge Base article
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsbackup/thread/b5236028-4bfe-400c-90e2-b6d40b08e776
to reset the permissions.

Install Clone — Installing vCenter Server Heartbeat in
a P2V using the install clone technique with differing disk subsystems may cause
the Operating System to fail.
During installation, with the Primary and Secondary servers having different
disk subsystems, the operating system may fail when the restore process runs.
This is caused when the restore process overwrites the registry settings for
the disk subsystem type on the Secondary server with the values of the Primary
server.Workaround: Prior to performing the restore process,
see VMware Knowledge Base article
1014436 (vCSHB-Ref-1819)
to prevent this issue.

vCenter Server Heartbeat
Administration

Update Manager client connection is lost and will be disabled in the event of a switchover or failover
After a switchover or failover, the Update Manager client connection is lost if the timeout exceeds 15-20 seconds.Workaround: Re-enable the vSphere Update Manager Client Plug-in once the Update Manager service has started.

After a failover or switchover the vSphere Converter Plug-in may report "Unable to connect to vCenter Converter Server".
After a switchover or failover, the vSphere Converter Plug-in fails to connect to vCenter Converter Server.Workaround: Restart the vSphere Client

Following a failover or switchover, the vSphere Client fails to reconnect to vCenter Server.
After a switchover or failover, the vSphere Client fails to authenticate as it attempts to reconnect to vCenter Server.Workaround:
To reconnect vSphere Client to vCenter Server, select the 'use Windows session credentials' checkbox.

After a switchover, vCenter Service status displays an
Alert with a red status
After a switchover, vCenter Service reports red for com.vmware.vcIntegrity and
displays the alert message "Health data retrieved is invalid".Workaround:
Manually update vci-integrity.xml file with the correct IP address or Fully
Qualified Domain Name (FQDN).

When deployed in a WAN configuration, after a switchover
or failover, the Update Manager Server starts with a wrong IP address
This issue appears in WAN deployments, when the network identification of VMware
Update Manager Server is configured using the vCenter Server Heartbeat Primary
server's Principal (Public) IP address, rather than Fully Qualified Domain Name
(FQDN). After a switchover or failover, the Principal (Public) IP address is
changed to the Secondary server's while Update Manager Server remains configured
with the Primary server's Principal (Public) IP address.Workaround:
Change the network address and then re-register Update Manager Server according
to VMware Knowledge Base article
1013222.

In a WAN environment after a switchover or failover, vCenter Orchestrator Server will fail to connect.
When deployed in a WAN environment, after a switchover or failover, vCenter Orchestrator Server fails to connect because the Principal (Public) IP address is not updated. Workaround: Follow the procedure listed in VMware Knowledge Base article 1010470 (vCSHB-Ref-1762) to correct this issue.

DB Files Allocated Space check fails because of a missing
performance object
The VMware SQL Server Plug-in does not evaluate
performance counters on 32-bit versions of SQL Server installed on 64-bit Windows
Operating Systems.Workaround: To prevent alerts from being
raised, disable the rule.

vCenter Server Heartbeat does not start on Secondary server with the following error message: "VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat failed to initialize: Failed to set packet filter loadstate".
This error may be accompanied by an IP conflict and can occur after a P2V Install Clone on Windows 2008 R2 if the packet driver fails to install because of a permissions error during driver installation.
Workaround: Manually install the packet filter on the Secondary server. See VMware Knowledge Base article 1009567 (vCSHB-Ref-353) for instructions on how to manually install the packet filter..

vCenter Server Heartbeat plug-ins may fail to update ESX 3.5 hosts when these are managed by vCenter Server 4.0 and 4.1.
ESX hosts version 3.5 managed by a vCenter Server 4.0 or 4.1 may fail to
successfully reconnect following a failover or switchover.Workaround: Re-register the ESX 3.5 hosts against the vCenter Server.

The System Tray application may fail after restarting the server when running Windows 2003 SP2 x64.After restarting the Primary or Secondary server and using the System Tray on that server to start vCenter Server Heartbeat, the System Tray application may fail.Workaround:Restart the System Tray application using the Start System Tray icon on the desktop.

VMware License Server service cannot be added to protected
set if any of its dependencies are disabled on the passive server.When running vCenter Server Heartbeat v4.x with License Server installed on Windows 2008, VMware recommends that the Computer Browser service be changed from Disabled to Manual.

vSphere Client left running on the passive server may cause a sweep sync during a switchover.When the license server and vSphere Client are installed under C:\program files (x86)\vmware\ or C:\program files\vmware\ then the vSphere Client should not be left running on the passive server when performing a switchover.

After installing vCenter Server Heartbeat Client Tools and attempting to start the vCenter Server Heartbeat Console, if the SSL certificate is refused, vCenter Server Heartbeat Console may not start but leaves the nfgui.exe process running.When starting vCenter Server Heartbeat Console after installing vCenter Server Heartbeat Client Tools, failing to accept the SSL certificate will stop vCenter Server Heartbeat Console from starting but leave the nfgui.exe process running.Workaround:Open the Task Manager and under the Processes tab, select the nfgui.exe process and click End Process. Once complete, double-click the Manage Server icon on the desktop to start vCenter Server Heartbeat Console.

vCenter Server Heartbeat
Plug-ins

State of vSphere Client plug-in not replicated from active
server to passive server
The enabled / disabled state of plug-ins in the vSphere Client are not replicated
from the active server to the passive server.

Incorrect network configuration might cause vSphere Client
Plug-in installation errors
Installing vCenter Plug-ins through the vSphere Client requires the vSphere
Client to connect and download the plug-ins through the Principal (Public) IP
address. The Principal (Public) network adapter must be first in the bind order.
If vSphere Client is configured with any other IP address, then the installation
will fail.

If one vCenter Server instance is not accessible, the Tomcat rule fails with the error Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
If one of the vCenter Server instances cannot be contacted, the Tomcat rule causes an error stating that the Object reference is not set to an instance of an object.

vCenter
Server Heartbeat Uninstall/Modify

Cannot uninstall Client Tools using the desktop shortcut
on Windows 7 if UAC is set to default.Workaround: Right-click the Uninstall shortcut and select Run As Administrator.